Legal, governance, and privacy requirements are putting an increased obligation on entities storing public and other sensitive data to maintain very high standards of data security. The centralized (i.e., integrated), distributed or networked use of data increases the complexity of maintaining such standards.
One particular challenge arises when copies, or partial copies, have to be made of enterprise system databases for (1) development and testing of new applications, (2) training, (3) load testing, or (4) data mining or analysis, without divulging confidential personal, customer or other information, or where access to such information is restricted by law.
This matter is complicated by several factors but is not limited to the following scenarios or combinations of them. In one scenario, copies often need to be made of subsets of records spread over multiple tables, where the tables are related on the basis of business processes and work flow, rather than on structure only, i.e., on foreign key relationships between fields. In another scenario, copies of different subsets of data are made from multiple source systems to multiple target systems. In a third scenario, copies are made to existing databases where data is updated incrementally, and new anonymized values need to be consistent with pre-existing ones. In a fourth scenario, where a full copy of an existing system has been made, the data in the new copied system may need to be anonymized to be made secure.